How
will Former President George W. Bush personally make millions (if not billions) from the
War
on Terror and Iraq? The old fashioned way. He'll inherit it.
Meet The
Carlyle GroupFormer World Leaders and Washington Insiders
Making Billions in
the War on Terrorism

The ex-presidents' club
The GuardianOliver Burkeman and Julian Borger Wednesday October 31, 2001

It is hard to imagine an address
closer to the heart of American power. The offices of the Carlyle Group are on
Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, midway between the White House and the
Capitol building, and within a stone's throw of the headquarters of the FBI and
numerous government departments. The address reflects Carlyle's position at the
very center of the Washington establishment, but amid the frenetic politicking
that has occupied the higher reaches of that world in recent weeks, few have
paid it much attention. Elsewhere, few have even heard of it...

But since the
start of the "war on terrorism", the firm - unofficially valued at $13.5bn - has
taken on an added significance. Carlyle has become the thread which indirectly
links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes
of its celebrity employees, not least the current president's father. And, until
earlier this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis:
among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of
Osama bin Laden
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Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the
events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank
Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the
bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central
Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington,
D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most
powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle
Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly
important...

And as the
Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects
went up. In running what its own marketing literature spookily calls "a
vast, interlocking, global network of businesses and investment professionals"
that operates within the so-called iron triangle of industry, government, and
the military, the Carlyle Group leaves itself open to any number of conflicts of
interest and stunning ironies. For example, it is hard to ignore the fact that
Osama bin Laden's family members, who renounced their son ten years ago, stood
to gain financially from the war being waged against him until late October,
when public criticism of the relationship forced them to liquidate their
holdings in the firm. Or consider that U.S. president George W. Bush is in a
position to make budgetary decisions that could pad his father's bank account.
But for the Carlyle Group, walking that narrow line is the art of doing business
at the murky intersection of Washington politics, national security, and private
capital; mastering it has enabled the group to amass $12 billion in funds under
management.
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